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What Does Revival Look Like? by Gary Ellis

It’s easy to miss revival in the moment if we’re focused on a future fanfare. The Jewish nation missed recognizing their God sent Messiah for the same reason.

It seems to me that a great number of sincere Christians are so dissatisfied and disgruntled by the “nasty now and now” that they are looking for a “revival messiah” of spiritual events to do the same thing the Jews were expecting. Instead of embracing and learning to enjoy Jesus’ promised abundant life (John 10:10), they’re looking for supernatural events to overthrow the “Roman type controls and injustices of life” and elevate God’s sons and daughters back in their rightful place of power.

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe it’s the plan and purpose of God that there is demonstrations of power in His Kingdom on earth. But, I also believe if we’re focused on external acts of power, we’ll miss the revival of righteousness, peace, and joy. If we’re looking for “feats of fanfare” that is yet to come, we’ll miss the Kingdom that is already here.

My journey of personal revival has more to do with a revival of personal core values. Core values that represent Heaven’s culture on earth. Core values that are far deeper than mental agreements. The word believe used to mean the same thing as deep core value. It has come to mean mental agreement with something.

Revival of core values leads to a revival of culture. A culture in the state of revival is a people who live their lives motivated by Heaven’s core values. One can already see revival when they witness the effects righteousness, peace, and joy in others…as well as themselves. The manifest fruit of the Spirit is another indication of the presence of revival.

The only challenge is the fact that it takes a revival of personal values for a person to see the present effects of revival around them. Otherwise, a person’s eyes are very myopic and they are mistakenly focused on the wish for future fanfares exploding on the scene.

Jesus didn’t come with fanfare. He said of Himself that he was the personification of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, that leads me to believe that what we refer to as revival will also lack fanfare. Jesus already came. The Kingdom already came. Revival is already a present reality in those with eyes to see. Will it increase. Of course. He said there would be no end to the increase of His Kingdom.

It will increase as we recognize it’s already here. Embrace that. Nurture that. Be personally changed by that.